Dedicated to gowrisiree , kitten_0004

"You think you are better at parenting than I am?" Mr. Banerjee asked fuming with rage when Prabir entered the kitchen whistling a tune.

Startled he looked at his father and said smiling," I think Maa's company is having a tremendous impact on you recently. Your hands are always itchy to slap and beat up people."

Frowning at him Mr. Banerjee slumped into a chair at the dining table.

"I never expected this from you Prabir. She needs strict parental guidance while you're ..." He paused waiting for a response from his son who seemed to be busy fiddling with his phone.

"Baba. She's addicted to smoking and it won't be easy for her to give up. It will take time.
When everyone in this house despises and dislikes her where is she supposed to go? Isn't it obvious that she'll be spending most of her time with Mayank as she thinks he is the only person who understands her? And then it will be you, who will end up complaining that she's in a bad company...under bad influence.

The more you object to her choices and decisions, the more you push her away from you. I am not saying that you should support her always and for everything, but dealing with her harshly is bound to create more troubles," Prabir explained.

"Yes! You're right," Mr. Banerjee said, after a while as guilt set in him deep. No matter what, she's a grown up girl and he shouldn't have lifted his hand on her he thought. "I'll apologize to her for my behavior, but you know what, I neither despise her nor dislike her," he said earnestly and got up to leave.

"I know Baba. Bhawu needs you now more than ever. She needs her father," Prabir instantly replied back in a very serious tone as he watched him leave the kitchen.

Sitting there in silence with his chin resting on his hands, he closed his eyes for a while imagining different scenarios of how he could approach Ishaan and confront him for having toyed with Bhawani's feelings. Though he was enraged, he wanted to believe that Ishaan had a reason of his own...that he still loved Bhawani.
A light tap on his shoulder, made him open his eyes and look at Parul.

"Bhaiya! What were you thinking?" She asked softly.

"A piece of the puzzle is missing Paru. Something just doesn't seem to be falling in place. Ishaan dearly loved your Bhawani Di and they were both so happy with each other. Whatever Bhargu says, I still can't believe that Ishaan is a bad guy...that he was only amusing himself using her as a puppet. Ishaan doesn't love or even like her anymore, all I could feel was his malice and hatred for her. Could it be some kind of a misunderstanding?" Prabir asked scratching his head.

"Why don't you meet him and ask him instead?" Parul enquired. 

"He doesn't want to meet me. He doesn't want to see my face Paru," Prabir sighed. "Your Bhawani Di is maintaining silence as well, she doesn't want to talk either. I don't believe in the bullshit she told us, that Ishaan is worried about his future and career and thus needs a break from this relationship. In that case he wouldn't hate her."

"Does Bhargu Di believe in this lie?" Parul questioned.

"No! However, she's pretending to believe in every thing said by Bhawani because she doesn't want to get involved in her sister's personal affairs," Prabir replied.

"But why?"

"Your Bhargu Di had insisted Bhawani to focus on her career and studies, when all the time she was busy planning her visits to Ishaan's house, fussing about his mother. She had in addition mentioned that Ishaan wasn't the right person for her and was slapped right across her face," Prabir said casually.

Staring at him with wide eyes, Parul slowly dragged a chair and sat beside him. "Why does everyone hurt Bhargu Di? Why does her Maa and sister treat her like this?" She sighed. "Bhargu Di doesn't deserve this. She must have been concerned about her falling grades," she added almost teary eyed.

"You know Paru, Bhargu is..." He had started but left the sentence hanging in the air noticing Bhargavi come in.

"Is Maa asleep?" Prabir asked while she grabbed a coffee mug and started to boil some milk.

"No!" Bhargavi replied back tersely. "Would you two like to have some coffee?"

Rushing to her, Parul lurched on her hugging her from behind.
"What is it Paru?" Bhargavi asked puzzled.

"I love you Di," she replied back sobbing.

"Why are you crying? What happened?" She quizzed. "Prabir did you scold her?"

"No!" He replied smiling. "I'll have coffee but not her. She's going to bed once Baba is done talking to Bhawani."

"I see. Doesn't explain why she has been crying though."

"Ah! Umm...Di we were talking about you and Bhawani Di. I am in fact glad that Baba scolded and even slapped her," Parul tried to explain and was interrupted by Bhargavi.

"Paru. Everyone gets knocked down. We all face hardships in life. There are times when our worst nightmares come true but still we survive...We live through it. Your Bhawani Di right now is heart broken and she's unable to control her impulsive actions. We need to be patient till she comes up with some kind of a coping mechanism," she said with a stoic calmness.

They heard someone sob and the sobs only got louder with passing time, till Mr. Banerjee entered the kitchen dragging Bhawani holding her forearm.

"Paru. Please go to bed," he instructed, clearly sounding impatient and Parul reluctantly but slowly followed.

Forcing Bhawani to sit on a chair, Mr. Banerjee shut the kitchen doors and casted a dejected look at Prabir, and  took a deep breath before starting to speak again. They could see his chest rise up and fall down due to heavy breathing.

"Prabir this girl is insane," he yelped at last pointing at Bhawani unable to subside the dismay and indignation. "Com'on tell him what you have done," he yelled in a sharp voice.

Tears gushed down Bhawani's cheeks non stop and she kept trembling unable to utter a word.

"Tell me what happened," Prabir asked Bhawani holding her hand in his.

"Let me tell you what happened," Mr. Banerjee snapped. "She tried to smother Ishaan's mother with a pillow."

"Unbelievable!Why?" Bhargavi asked perplexed, as the coffee mug fell from her hand and broke into pieces.

"She wanted to liberate her from all of her miseries and sufferings, certain that she will never recover from her illness. Ishaan saw her doing this and prevented her from ...Then he threw her out and never lets her get close to his mother. Could he have treated her  better?" Mr. Banerjee quizzed.

"You don't have the right to willingly kill people?" Bhargavi vented banging her wrists on the dinner table.

"I am out of my wits Bhargavi. She thinks what she did was the right thing to do... That Ishaan's mother is a burden on him and nobody wants to live a life like she has been living for years now. She needs to move on to the next life.

She kept arguing with me that if giving and taking life is in God's hands then why do doctors work so hard to save their patients instead of leaving them at God's mercy? Why do firefighters and police risk their own lives to save others?" Mr. Banerjee sighed looking quite disappointed.

"Ishaan's been fighting tooth and nail to help his mother recover. How can you do this to him?" Bhargavi flared up.

Casting a dismissive look at Bhawani, Prabir stood up from his chair and slapped right across her face. He had lost his cool. "Who gives you the right to decide who lives and who doesn't? How are you so sure that she wants to end her life? Did she demand for voluntary euthanasia?"

"She's hopelessly sick. I only wanted to end her long terminal illness and sufferings. She has the right to die with dignity and not like a ...It's unbearable to watch her suffer like this,"Bhawani argued.

"Shut up! Shut the f**** up! What you did is considered as criminal homicide,"Bhargavi snarled.

"Arrange for her counselling Baba. This can't go on. She needs to be treated," Prabir sighed.

"Why do I need to get a treatment? So now you think I am mentally retarded? Or you think that I am crazy?" Bhawani threw a wobbly. "Are you guys not done with slapping and yelling at me?"

"Please! Try to understand Bhawani, killing a person wilfully is a crime. It is not the same as consciously killing a mosquito," Prabir spoke calmly still trying to reason with her. "What you tried to do was immoral, unethical and inhuman. The vulnerable people - the elderly, disabled, sick or distressed people should they be all killed ? What does your conscience say?"

A pin drop silence followed his words.
"Ishaan's mother needs compassionate care, love and affection not a premature death," Prabir further added after a moment letting the thoughts sink deep in Bhawani's mind.

"Alright! It's late now we should all go to bed," Mr. Banerjee sighed. "We'll talk about this later."

Wiping her face dry with the sleeves of her t-shirt Bhawani left the kitchen almost instantly.

They all stood impasse shocked still processing if Bhawani was capable of doing something like this.

"Baba. Please arrange for her counselling. I'll myself drag her to the hospital if needed. Her thought process has just scared the shit out of me. Had Ishaan not been there to save the day, she would have deliberately murdered his mother," Prabir said softly after a while. "She had the gall to keep on lying to all of us and she isn't ashamed or sorrowful either for what she has done."

"I will Prabir. I will," replied Mr. Banerjee. "I remarked her face carefully while speaking to her, a vile smirk, malicious scowl, venomous sneer, wrathful grimace, or a nefarious frown...I really don't know how to describe it. There was something strangely odd in the way she smiled at me.

When she teared up and argued vehemently, too it felt like she was in a state of delirious mania. Sometimes she was speaking too fast if you have noticed. Don't tell anything about this to your Maa yet, though she's going to find out about this pretty soon. "

Nodding their heads in unison both Prabir and Bhargavi agreed to not disclose anything about this discussion to Ms. Nalini.

Bhargavi cleaned up the mess on the kitchen floor, the milk on the stove had spilled in the meantime they were engrossed in the discussion. She also picked up the glass on the floor, the remanants of the coffee mug while Prabir made some coffee for both of them.

Holding a cup of coffee Bhargavi walked out of the kitchen as well. Slowly she crawled in the bed beside her mother, shutting down her laptop and placing it on the table. Despite having a lot of work to be done, she felt like her head would burst if she didn't rest for a while.

Pulling the coverlet on her mother, she was spooked when Ms. Nalini questioned,"Have you noticed any change in Bhawani's behavior recently?"

"Wha...What kind of a change are you talking about Maa?" She asked in return with her heart thumping loudly against her chest. Lying was never easy for her and certainly not to her mother.

"You know that day, when I saw her smoke on the terrace. I was frantic. She mimicked me, repeating every word I said. She seemed to relish those moments with immense pleasure and self satisfaction.

Her actions only infuriated me further and first I slapped Mayank and then her. When I tried to slap her the second time,she held my arm in a very solid grip and digged her fingernails in my hands like clawing me. The moment she witnessed me in pain, the uncanny cheerfulness on her face was astonishingly weird.

I jerked my hand away and walked out disappointed. The instant I stepped on the stairs,she yelped as if in pain. I slowly turned around to see her beaming at me and then I saw something in her eyes, that made me feel dreadful. Then she pushed me  abruptly."

Author's Note:

Hope you enjoy reading this update and it takes you away from your pretty mundane daily life.